Stage Kisses
by TheHopelessShipper
Summary: Sikowitz gives the students an assignment on stage kissing, which makes the gang rethink some feelings they have for each other. Cabbie, Bade, & a little Tandre! / Have save Victorious! go to ipetitions dot com slash petitions slash victorious
1. Chapter 1

_Diclaimer: All characters belong to the creators of TV show Victorious!_

_Author's Note: This takes place at no particular time in the episode sequence, except that Beck and Jade are already broken up. I tried to stay true to the characters and the style of the show, but near the end I think it loses some of the Dan Schneider signature quirkiness. You tell me; please review! :)_

_If the whole story appears in the first chapter, I'm sorry. :/ It's taking a long time for the fix to go through. Please just stop reading at the first scene change & go right to chapter 2!_

_[Opening scene, Sikowitz's classroom, Hollywood Arts]_

"Okay, my little goats!" Sikowitz claps his hands and eagerly looks at his students.

"Um, why goats?" Tori asks, her head cocked to one side as she frowns at her teacher.

Sikowitz picks up a coconut and drinks from it, loudly, and then answers. "Because goats are kids, and you are my kids! Ha! Aha! Ahahahahaha!"

Everyone is silent. Sikowitz continues. "Anyway. Today, we need to talk about something very important, something very….intimate." He draws out the last word. "Stage kissing!"

Jade rolls her eyes. Andre frowns slightly, and Cat giggles to herself. "One time, my grandmother came over to visit my brother after he got out of the special hospital and-"

"Cat, nobody wants to listen to your story about your brother." Sikowitz walks over to wear Cat is sitting and puts his hands on her head. "This is a, shall we say, delicate topic, and I need no interruptions! Now. As I was saying…yes. Stage kissing! You are all terrible at it!"

He waits for the news to sink in. Nobody seems affected, and Sikowitz can see he's not getting through to his class. "Your kissing…doesn't feel….real."

"So how do we make it look real?" Robbie asks.

"Ah, good question! And here is the answer: You," he points to Robbie, "must imagine that you are in love with the actress whom you are kissing. SO! I need a volunteer."

Everyone suddenly avoids Sikowitz's eyes and exclaims, "Not me, no way, I'm not gonna kiss…" All except Jade, who stares at Sikowitz, daring him to call on her.

"Beck!" he yells. "I choose you."

"Yeah? Who do you want me to kiss?" Beck grins a little, intrigued about this exercise.

"Tori!"

A loud yell comes from the other side of the room, where Jade is sitting. She glares at Tori, an extremely evil look on her face. Then she growls, "I. Don't. Think. So."

Tori looks scared, then glances at Sikowitz. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea…"

"I'll kiss Tori," Robbie offers. Cat giggles and lightly hits Robbie on his arm.

Sikowitz walks back onto the stage, and holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay, maybe that wasn't such a good idea. But, we DO need to work on your stage kissing. And so here is your assignment, due one week from now on Thursday. I will pair you all up together, and you must write a scene in which you two kiss. You will hand your script in to me in class then perform it privately sometime during the rest of the week or the following week. Are we clear?"

Everyone nods, though no one looks happy. The bell rings, signaling the end of class, and the students rush to leave.

"I'll post the partners by the end of today! And you may switch partners if you wish," Sikowitz yells.

"Man, this is gonna be a weird assignment," Tori says to her friends. "What if I get some creepy guy? Like Robbie?"

"Hey!" he protests.

Beck laughs. "Don't worry, like Sikowitz said, if you don't like your partner, you can switch."

Tori sighs and runs her hands through her hair quickly, then brightens. "You guys wanna grab some lunch?"

A chorus of "Yeah, sure, sounds good" erupts, and Tori, Andre, Beck, Robbie, and Cat make their way to the Asphalt Cafe.


	2. Chapter 2

_[Hallway outside Sikowitz's classroom]_

Students crowd around the list on the wall, straining to see who they're partnered with. The gang walks up; Jade unwillingly follows.

"Do you see my name anywhere?" Tori asks, craning her neck to see over a tall boy in front of her.

"Either that's just not me, or Sikowitz made a huge typo," Andre says. He points to a name that says "AnnDray".

"Nope, here you are." Beck squints. "Andre, paired with….Tori."

Tori turns to Andre and looks him up and down. "You better bring gum." Andre frowns.

"Where's my name? Where's my name?" Cat exclaims, jumping up and down.

Jade pushes her way out from the crowd, where she disappeared into a few minutes ago. "You're paired with Robbie," she says.

Robbie's mouth falls open. "Oh, uh…"

Cat giggles and nudges Robbie. "Pucker up!" Robbie tries to speak, but is unable to form a sentence.

"Who'er you with?" Tori asks Jade, trying to be friendly as she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.

Jade is silent, but she looks angry.

Then Beck turns away from the list and says, "Me."

Tori, Andre, Robbie, and Cat all look shocked, wondering how Sikowitz could do that. Doesn't he know about their terrible breakup? Sure, Beck and Jade are kind of on speaking terms, but…

Jade doesn't give Beck time to say anything, and storms away.


	3. Chapter 3

_[Outside Tori's house, nighttime]_

_Andre walks up to Tori's door, on the phone with Robbie. "What? I-no! No, Robbie, I will not switch partners with you! Why can't you just kiss Cat? It's just a stage kiss…oh…you-you like-Robbie-are you crying?" Andre shakes his head and rings the doorbell. "If you like Cat, man, just kiss her. You can handle it."_

_Tori opens the door. "Hey!"_

"_See ya." Andre hangs up his phone and walks into Tori's house. "Het, you got any lemons?"_

"_Lemons? Why?"_

"_I dunno, on the way here I got a real craving for some lemons. You got any?"_

_Tori laughs good-naturedly. "I don't think so."_

_Just then, Tori's mother, Mrs. Vega, comes downstairs. "Hey kids."_

_Tori groans as she sees her mom head for the kitchen, most likely to prepare a snack that will take a long time, and give her and Andre no privacy for their assignment. "Mo-om! Can you please go upstairs? Andre and I have to kiss and I don't want an audience!"_

_Mrs. Vega drops her fork and stares at Tori and Andre, surprised. "Oh, you-you and-you two are..?" she motions to both kids. Andre looks innocently from Mrs. Vega to Tori._

"_It's for a school assignment," Tori says slowly._

"_Ohhhh, right, okay! Right! Yeah, just, take your time. I'll be upstairs if you need me, okay?" she hurries away._

"_Tell Dad and Trina to stay away, too!"_

_Andre flops onto Tori's orange couch, Tori following suit. "Ready to get started?"_

"_Yep." Andre rubs his hands together. "So. A love scene. Any ideas so far?"_

_She shakes her head. "No. Nothing. Oh, hey, why don't we just do a little improv, see what we come up with?"_

"_Okay, sounds good."_


	4. Chapter 4

_[Robbie's house, same night]_

Robbie sits on his couch in his living room. "Cat…you ready?"

"Almost!" a voices calls from the other room.

"You know I really don't understand why you have to make cupcakes right now!"

Cat walks into the living room, wearing a pink apron with kittens on it and matching oven mittens. She sets a tray of pink frosted cupcakes on a coffee table. "They're cupcakes! What's not to love?" She gestures towards them grandly and giggles.

Robbie tries to get comfy on his couch, but he's nervous. "Okay, well we need to get started. It's already nine o'clock and we haven't done anything yet."

"Kay kay." Cat plops down on the couch. She takes off her apron and mittens and smooths out her pink dress. "How about we write a scene about a giraffe that learns to love?"

"Well which one of us would be the giraffe?"

Cat picks up her stuffed giraffe that had been sitting on the floor. "This guy!" She squeezes him and and makes a giraffe sound. She laughs.

Robbie tries to stay patient. "But then when would we kiss?"

"Kiss?"

"Yeah, that's the assignment. We have a kiss."

"Okay!" Cat leans towards Robbie, closing her eyes.

"WOAH! What are you doing?" Robbie says, leaning far away from Cat.

Cat opens her eyes, confused. "You said we had to kiss!"

"In a SCENE!"

Cat blinks; it takes a moment for it to register, and then, "Ohhhh."


	5. Chapter 5

_[Tori's house, later than night]_

"You never loved me!"

"Uhh, you said…we need to work things out!"

"When did I say that? That's- we're not talking about it! That! Ughh!" Tori groans, and flops back onto the couch. "Why is this so hard? Nothing we're doing seems to work at all."

Andre, still standing, shrugs. "I don't know, but we must be doing something wrong. Maybe we should focus more on the…well, actions, instead of the words."

Tori lifts up her head. "You mean, the kiss?" she says softly.

Andre nods, all serious now.

"Okay."

Tori gets up and smooths down her hair and clothes. She and Andre stand right in front of the couches, looking at each other. Neither one seems to want to make the first move. They're just friends, and even though this is just stage kissing, both feel like it's going to be weird. But neither one wants to admit that.

Tori starts to put her hands around Andre's neck at the same time Andre puts his hands on her shoulders. Then they switch, uncertain of what to do. They awkwardly move about for a minute, totally lost. They've kissed other actors before, but somehow it's different this time. Finally, Andre takes Tori's hands in his, and leans in.

Their lips meet, uncertainly at first, but then the kiss becomes stronger. Andre moves closer to Tori so that they are pressed up against each other.

There's a movement on the stairs. Trina walks down and spots the two. Her mouth falls open, and she hastily takes her PearPod out and begins to take pictures of Andre and her sister kissing. The two are so immersed in each other that they don't even realize Trina is there.


	6. Chapter 6

_[Robbie's house, later that night]_

"And then Caroline yells, 'Don't leave me!'"

"And Mark can say, 'I won't, don't worry.' Then they…"

"Kiss," Cat finishes.

"Done! Now just gotta save." Robbie walks over to wear his laptop is resting next to the cupcakes, now half gone. He types in a few lines, hits save, and closes it. "Cool, we're done, see you on Monday!" he tries to get Cat out the door.

"Wait, wait! We didn't rehearse the last part! And I almost forgot Mr. Longneck!" She worriedly points to her giraffe.

Robbie hands it to her. "Okay, bye."

"But we need to rehearse! Robbie, why don't you want to kiss me?" Cat pouts and looks sad.

Robbie awkwardly shoves his hands in his pockets. "Um…"

"Come on." Cat grabs his hand and pulls him over to the couch. She makes him sit and stands in front of him, her hands on her hips.

"Now," Cat says, giggling, "It's nothing to be ashamed of if you've never kissed a girl! But it's not even hard! You just-"

"That's not the problem! I've kissed a girl before, it's just, now I have to kiss you! And I don't want to because I'm afraid I'll mess up and then you'll never want to go out with me and I'll have to live with Rex for the rest of my life because you'll tell all your girl friends that Robbie Shapiro is a terrible kisser!"

Cat stares at Robbie, unable to speak. She sits down next to him and takes his hand. "Robbie…" she says, her voice a little hoarse. Then she kisses him.

About five seconds later she pulls away, and now it's Robbie who is speechless. Cat simply giggles.


	7. Chapter 7

_[Hollywood Arts main hall, Wednesday]_

Tori closes her locker and spotts Robbie leaning against his, holding Rex and texting. She decides to go over and talk to him.

"Hey," she says cheerfully. "Wanna go across the street to that new Italian place and get something to eat after school?"

"Oh, actually, Cat and I are going somewhere together."

Tori smiles and shakes her head. "I still can't believe you guys are together now. It's so freaky; and just because of a class assignment!"

Robbie shrugs. "It could happen to anybody."

"It didn't happen with Andre and I-"

Suddenly, Sinjin runs up to Tori. "Oh, Tori, is it true?"

"Is what true?" Tori tucks some hair behind her ear, smiling in a confused way.

Sinjin holds out his PearPod. On the screen is a picture of Tori and Andre kissing.

Tori gasps. "Where did you get that picture?"

"Trina posted it!"

Tori's mouth falls open and she turns to look at Robbie, who seems just as surprised.

"And look at the caption!"

Underneath the picture, it says "Tori Vega and Andre Harris, an official couple."

"Oh my god! I can't believe Trina! She must taken that picture when Andre and I were rehearsing for Sikowitz's assignment. That was just a stage kiss; Andre and I are NOT together!"

"Say what you want, Tori," Sinjin says. "I've seen the way you look at Andre." Then he spins around and walks away.

"The way I look at Andre? What?" Tori says. "Whatever. I need to go confront Trina. Hey, Cat," she barely glances at Cat she she walks up to Robbie.

"Hey, Baby." Robbie takes Cat's hand and pretends to dance a little with her. She giggles, gets on her tiptoes, and kisses Robbie on the mouth. He smiles.

"I'm never gonna get tired of that…. I can't believe I have a girlfriend!"

"And I can't believe YOU'RE my boyfriend!" She pokes Robbie in the stomach.

Across the hall, Tori finds Andre sitting against the wall by the Wahoo Punch vending machine. He plays around on his keyboard, then notices Tori standing in front of him.

"Have you seen what Trina posted about us on The Slap?" Tori says as she sits next to Andre.

"No, what?"

Tori pulls out her phone and clicks around some to find the picture.

"No way!" Andre grabs the phone out of her hand and examines it. "An official couple? What the chizz?"

Tori nods. "I know! We need to clear this up!"

Andre hands back Tori's phone, and then lowers his voice. "Yeah, but every since that kiss, have you felt a little…wonkish?"

"Wonkish? What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't know, you know, just, because…"

Tori grabs Andre's arm and pulls him into the janitor's closet. "Do you mean like, wonkish about…us?"

Andre nods vigorously. "Yeah, yeah!"

Tori runs her hands through her hair, as she often does when she's worried. "I don't know, it's weird. We're just friends, right?"

"But that kiss kinda felt like something more, didn't it?" Andre says softly.

They stare at each other for a moment, and then both teens lean forward and kiss. Tori puts her hands on Andre's face, who's hands are on her waist. It's almost a perfect replica of their stage kiss.

They break apart.

"You know what…." Tori says at the same time Andre says, "I don't think…"

"I didn't feel anything."

"Me neither."

Tori smiles and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "I guess we're better just as friends. We got all worked up about nothing."

"Yeah, I mean, it was the first time we kissed each other, like for a play, and we're tight, so it was strange. But we're cool now."

Tori nods once. "Yeah."

"And we never speak of this to anyone."

"Agreed."

Smiling, Andre holds the door open for Tori as they leave.


	8. Chapter 8

_[Sikowitz's classroom, later that day]_

"So have you and Jade practiced your scene yet?" Robbie asks Beck, who's sitting next to him in class.

"Yep."

"Have you kissed?" asks Tori.

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"She refuses to. She's okay when we're coming up with the scene and rehearsing, but that's probably only because she insists it be a story about two people who hate each other and only realize they like each other at the end, so that she doesn't have to 'pretend to like my wazzed-up head any longer than necessary.'"

"She said that?" Robbie seems surprised at Jade's choice of words.

"It's Jade, whaddya expect!" Rex says from Robbie's lap. "She's the queen of the witches of the wazzed-up words!"

"The queen of the witches?" Tori tilts her head, thinking.

"Well the point is, Jade and I need to rehearse our kiss, and this thing is due tomorrow. We only have one more day to work on it, and I have a feeling Jade's not gonna be cooperative." Everyone turns to look at Jade, who is sitting on the other side of the room, cutting up paper with red scissors.

"Why don't you just improv the kiss when your perform it for Sikowitz? That way you only have to do it once." Andre suggests.

"We can't. The kiss has to look real, that's what we're being graded on. Jade doesn't care if she gets one bad grade, so she'll either kiss me for a millisecond or just not kiss me at all. I don't know what I'm gonna do!" Beck throws his hands in the air.

"You'll think of something," says Tori just as Sikowitz walks in the room.

"Hello, students, before we begin I'd like to remind you that your stage kiss assignment is due tomorrow. And hopefully I don't actually have to remind any of you, because that means you haven't started and you are probably going to fail." Everyone stares at him. "Well, this IS going to count as a big chunk of your final grade!"

Beck leans his head back and closes his eyes, unhappy. Jade looks over at him but says nothing.

"One time, my brother's friend was at a doughnut store, and he was shot, so he had a big chunk of his leg missing, and when he came back he had to get it removed and so now he uses a pogo stick to get around, except his dog always growls at it. His dog is deaf in one ear." Cat smiles and looks around.


	9. Chapter 9

_[Blackbox theater, Friday] _

Sikowitz watches Tori and Andre perform, drinking in every second of their performance.

"I thought you loved me. Why don't you ever say that you love me?" Tori throws her hands up in the air and turns away from Andre.

"I don't know, I didn't want to make a commitment…"

"When you're in a relationship with me, you better be committed or you'll be sorry!"

Andre turns Tori around and holds her by her shoulders. "I know, I know. I am sorry. I do love you." Then he kisses her, a long and intense kiss.

Sikowitz bursts into applause. "Wonderful! Magnificent! I loved it! Very good, A+!" Tori and Andre smile and hug each other other.

"Thank you," Tori says, looking at Andre. "It took a lot of work, but we like how it turned out."

Andre bobs his head yes. "Uh, by the way Sikowitz…why do you have a chicken?"

Sure enough, a white hen is standing in the chair next to Sikowitz. Sikowitz reaches over to stroke it. "I'm chicken sitting," he says as if it's the most normal thing to do. Considering it's Sikowitz, it probably it. He offers no other explanation, so Tori and Andre leave.

Cat and Robbie come in next.

"So. I understand that you two are a couple now?"

Robbie nods. "Yeparooni!"

Sikowitz leans over, rests his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. "Interesting."

"So, our piece is called, The Girl Who Learns to Love," Cat says. She smiles at Robbie as they begin acting.

Their scene is short, probably one of the shortest, but it's very heartfelt. Sikowitz is intrigued throughout the whole ten minutes, especially at the end.

"Don't leave me!" Cat yells, crying, as she falls into Robbie's arms.

"I won't, don't worry," he replies, soothing her. He lifts up her chin and wipes away a tear. Cat sniffs. Robbie leans in and kisses her, a very sweet kiss. The scene ends and they break apart, hold hands, and bow.

"Nice job," Sikowitz says. "I can truly see the passion of the kiss when the actors feel love in a real relationship."

Cat beams and Robbie blushes.

"But really, Robbie? Cat, you could do so much better." Robbie frowns, but Cat just giggles and she grabs his hand and pulls him offstage.

Beck and Jade come in, the last pair. They still haven't rehearsed any kiss, and Beck is seriously worried about his grade. They tried rehearsing on Wednesday, but Jade got mad when Beck got a text from some girl and stormed out of his RV. They haven't talked since.

"So, I am aware that you two never handed in your written script," Sikowitz says, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, congratulations," Jade says, her face expressionless.

"Yeah, we uh, didn't finish?" Beck offers.

"You do know that you must perform this for me now, and it has to be a complete scene with a kiss?"

Jade is silent, but she quickly glances at Beck.

"Oh, we know. We finished….the scene….just not writing it…" Beck says.

Sikowitz leans back. "Well, if you impress me with your acting I will let you hand in the script on Monday and still give you full credit."

"Okay."

The two begin, seeming a little tense the first few minutes. It's mostly Jade, and it's obvious she doesn't want to be there, or at least not with Beck.

After only ten minutes, Beck and Jade begin to speak a little slower, fumbling around for words. They're right at the point where they stopped writing the script; they have no ending and so far, no kiss. Both are at a loss for words and stop talking. Sikowitz watches them, offering no help.

Beck turns to Jade and says suddenly, with lots of emphasis, "I'm tired of this, Mary."

Jade raises her eyebrows slightly. Beck has started improvising the scene, and she's not sure where he's going with it. "You're tired of what, Brad?" she says slowly.

"You. Me. Us. Acting like nothing is wrong when something clearly is."

"I don't know what you're talking about, Brad. We both know we don't like each other, we should just accept the fact and move on with our lives."

Beck walks around a little, talking with his hands. It's obvious to Sikowitz that Beck and Jade are talking more about themselves than the actual characters. He leans forward as if in a trance, and slowly pets his chicken.

"No," says Beck, "I can't move on. I can't go through my life hating you, because I don't hate you."

"…You don't?" Jade says. She suddenly seems so vulnerable.

"I don't." Beck takes a step forward and in one swift moment, he has Jade's cheek in his palm, stroking it tenderly. "I love you." Beck kisses her intensely, not seeming to want to let her go. And Jade kisses back.

Sikowitz smiles, satisfied. He knew he did the right thing by pairing them together.

They finally break apart. "I always loved you," Beck says.

Jade slowly smiles.

Sikowitz applauds. "Bravo, bravo, bra-vo! You kids killed it. I loved the ending. So powerful and moving. You can turn your script in on Monday or any day, you're getting a big, fat, one hundred perfect PERFECT!" He grabs his chicken and kisses it on the head. Then he carries it out the door.

Beck and Jade look at each other.

"So," Beck starts to say, but Jade interrupts him by slapping him on the arm.

"Shut up," she says.

Beck takes a step back, but before he can say anything, Jade continues. "I guess, if we're being totally honest…." she says, "I always loved you too."


End file.
